Spock Almost Had An Operation To Give Him Human Ears

Even with a new Spock out there played by Zachary Quinto and another one about to energize the second season of ‘Star Trek: Discovery‘ it is hard to imagine anyone in the role aside from Leonard Nimoy. It is also hard to imagine Spock without his pointy Vulcan ears, but that almost happened.

As we’ve learned, Nimoy initially hated the prosthetics which were used to transform him into this iconic character. He hated them so much that he was told that they could be surgically removed in the first season if he didn’t adapt to them after a certain number of episodes.

Yes, Spock almost went for a more human look and embracing the humanity from his mother’s side all the way back in The Original Series of “Star Trek.”

According to an older interview with the beloved actor:

“In the early stages of developing the makeup, before we shot the first pilot, we were with the wrong makeup people, and they were making the ears for me, experimentally at first, and they really looked grotesque. And we went through three or four of those sessions. As time got closer to the first day of shooting … I became more and more concerned about the look.”

While Nimoy hated them, Gene Roddenberry felt that they were needed for the character. I’m siding with Roddenberry on this one but to see how it played out Nimoy continued:

“And finally, it was Fred Phillips, who was in charge of the makeup on the series, who knew what was wrong. The problem was the studio had already made a commitment to these other people to make the ears and didn’t want him to go elsewhere because it would cost more money. [Phillips] said we must and forced the issue, and got me a good pair of ears to solve the problem.”

THANK YOU, Fred Phillips!

I can’t imagine a Spock who didn’t have the ears. Over the course of the original three years of filming “Star Trek,” Nimoy would go on to wear 150 pairs of ears. It isn’t clear what that number would be if you factor in the movies and other “Star Trek” appearances.

Are you glad that Leanord Nimoy didn’t get his way? Could you imagine Spock saying “Live Long and Prosper” with normal human ears? How do you think they would have explained away this operation? Share your thoughts below!

Stuart Conover

Stuart Conover is a father, husband, blogger, published author, geek, entrepreneur, editor of Horror Tree, horror fanatic, science fiction junkie, lives in a world of comics, and a casual gamer (all of this when his wife lets him of course.) He fell in love with science fiction and horror at the same time while watching the movie Alien at probably far too young of an age while still being extremely impressionable and has been happily obsessed with both since! Around the same time he had also developed an unhealthy addiction to comic books that continues to this day!